Storage

Portion of the precipitation falling on land surface which does not flow out as runoff gets stored as either as surface water bodies like Lakes, Reservoirs and Wetlands or as sub-surface water body, usually called Ground water.

Ground water storage is the water infiltrating through the soil cover of a land surface and traveling further to reach the huge body of water underground. As mentioned earlier, the amount of ground water storage is much greater than that of lakes and rivers. However, it is not possible to extract the entire groundwater by practicable means. It is interesting to note that the groundwater also is in a state of continuous movement – flowing from regions of higher potential to lower. The rate of movement, however, is exceptionally small compared to the surface water movement.

The following definitions may be useful:

Lakes: Large, naturally occurring inland body of water

Reservoirs: Artificial or natural inland body of water used to store water to meet various demands.

Wet Lands: Natural or artificial areas of shallow water or saturated soils that contain or could support water–loving plants